Richard Russell Riordan Jr. (/ˈraɪərdən/RY-ər-dən; born June 5, 1964)[1] is an American author, best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million copies in the United States.[2]20th Century Fox adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films in which Riordan was not involved. Riordan currently serves as a co-creator and executive producer on the television series adaption of the book series that was released on Disney+ in 2023. Riordan's books have also spawned other related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections.
Rick married Becky Riordan in 1985 on the couple's shared birthday.[9] They have two sons, Haley and Patrick. They moved from San Antonio to Boston in June 2013, in conjunction with older son Haley starting college in Boston.[9][10]
Riordan has created several successful book series. Tres Navarre, an adult mystery series about a Texas private eye, won the Shamus, Anthony, and Edgar Awards.[11]
He conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley.[12]
Haley had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, inspiring Riordan to make the titular protagonist hyperactive and dyslexic.[13] Riordan published the first novel in the series, The Lightning Thief, in 2005. Four sequels followed, with the last, The Last Olympian, in 2009. Prior to Percy Jackson, Riordan had written the Tres Navarres series, a series of mystery novels for adult readers.[14]
His Percy Jackson & the Olympians series features the titular twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of the ancient Greek god Poseidon. 20th Century Fox purchased the film rights and released two feature film adaptations between 2010 and 2013. Following the success of Percy Jackson, Riordan created The Kane Chronicles, which features a modern-day Egyptian pantheon and two new sibling protagonists, Sadie and Carter Kane.[15] Riordan also created a sequel series to Percy Jackson, The Heroes of Olympus.[3]
Riordan also helped create the children's book series The 39 Clues. He authored several of its books, including The Maze of Bones, which topped The New York Times Best Seller list on September 28, 2008.[16] He also wrote the introduction to the Puffin Classics edition of Roger Lancelyn Green'sTales of the Greek Heroes, in which he states that the book influenced him to write his Greek mythology series.[17]
In September 2016, Disney-Hyperion announced a new Rick Riordan imprint. The imprint is called "Rick Riordan Presents" and was launched in March 2018. It is headed by Riordan's editor, Stephanie Owens Lurie.[51]
Lurie said that Riordan had been approached about an imprint several years ago but initially dismissed the idea because of his heavy workload. Later, he reported back that he had been "toying with the idea" and was "willing to go forward with a publishing line that was not a brand extension for his own work but a platform for Riordan to bring other great writers to the attention of his vast and loyal audience."[51] She also said that the imprint planned to launch with two then-undetermined books. "The point of making this announcement now is to get the word out about what we're looking for."[51]
The imprint does not publish books written by Riordan, "whose role [is] closer to curator."[51] In an interview with the Iowa Gazette, Riordan said, "Instead of me writing all of the mythologies we are going to look for authors who already are writing about that stuff. If I feel like I can recommend them [to my readers] ... we're going to have them out here in the spotlight."[52] A focus will be placed on "diverse, mythology-based fiction by new, emerging, and under-represented authors". Lurie expressed hopes that the imprint would help satisfy Riordan fans without asking the author to write more than his usual two books a year.[51]
^Lodge, Sally (August 18, 2011). "First Printing of Three Million for New Percy Jackson Book". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2015. There are 30 million copies in print in the U.S. of the novels in the author's three series for Disney-Hyperion: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, and The Heroes of Olympus—and the books have been translated into thirty-seven languages.
^Springen, Karen (May 31, 2012). "Rick Riordan Makes His 'Mark'". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2012. a cruise to the Baltic and Scandinavian countries last summer provided fodder for Riordan's upcoming Norse series
^ ab"Update from Athena House"Archived June 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. June 12, 2013. Myth & Mystery: The official blog for author Rick Riordan (rickriordan.blogspot.com). Retrieved November 14, 2015.
^Riordan, Rick (January 26, 2014). "Mystery man". Boston Globe Magazine. The Boston Globe (bostonglobe.com). Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
^Jones, Trevelyn; Luann Toth; Marlene Charnizon; Daryl Grabarek; Joy Fleishhacker (December 1, 2010). "Best Books 2010". School Library Journal. Archived from the original on January 1, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
^Riordan, Rick; Collar, Orpheus (October 3, 2017). The Kane Chronicles, Book Three, The Serpent's Shadow: The Graphic Novel. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN9781484782347.
^Riordan, Rick; Venditti, Robert (February 21, 2017). The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two, The Son of Neptune: The Graphic Novel. Disney-Hyperion. ISBN9781484716212.
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